Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz put his Honda on pole at the manufacturer’s home race in qualifying for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Japan, ahead of Citroën’s José María López.
Michelisz had earlier been just 11th quickest in Q1, before the Hungarian rose to be the fastest driver in Q2, earning him his third Q3 appearance of the season. He then went just 0.080 seconds faster than López to claim his third career pole and his first since the Japanese race at Suzuka in 2013.
“I honestly don’t know what to say,” said a delighted Michelisz. “I have just so many memories from 2013 where the weekend was exactly the same. I just don’t know what to say.
“I did the maximum so I don’t think I could have been even two or three hundreds faster, but I just had to give everything because I know it’s an important event for Honda. With this I think it can be an important step for the future.”
Crucially, López extended his championship lead further by out-qualifying both of his main rivals Yvan Muller, who missed out on Q3 and ended up seventh, and Sébastien Loeb, who was third.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani earned his second Q3 appearance of the season and put his Citroën in fourth, ahead of Ma Qing Hua in fifth.
Despite having earlier topped all three practice sessions, works Honda driver Gabriele Tarquini could only manage sixth on the grid for race one after leaving it until late in Q2 to post a time. Nevertheless the Italian was ahead of at least one Citroën of Muller, who was seventh fastest.
Tiago Monteiro appeared to be targeting a reverse-grid qualifying result, with the Portuguese driver also leaving it until late in Q2 to set a time, which ultimately earned him eighth on the grid.
Completing the top ten, and starting on the front row for race two, were LADA’s Nicky Catsburg, and Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente, who both moved up one position when ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton had his best Q2 lap time deleted.
That left LADA newcomer Nicolas Lapierre to qualify in 11th position on his début, ahead of Chilton, who will start from 12th after only posting one competitive time in Q2 which was subsequently disallowed for exceeding the track limits.
Rob Huff was the biggest shock exit of Q1, with the LADA driver 13th fastest, missing out on Q2 by just 0.033 seconds after a late improvement by team-mate Catsburg knocked him out.
ROAL’s Tom Coronel was also bitterly disappointed to miss out on progressing beyond Q1, with the Dutchman having experienced most of his racing success in Japan. The Chevrolet driver ended up in 15th on the grid, even being out-qualified by the Craft-Bamboo car of youngster Grégoire Demoustier.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 1:55.596 | |
| 2 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:55.676 | 0.080 | |
| 3 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:55.804 | 0.208 | |
| 4 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:55.835 | 0.239 |
| 5 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:56.038 | 0.442 | |
| The following times are from Q2 | |||||||||
| 6 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 4 | 1:56.137 | 0.426 | |
| 7 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 5 | 1:56.236 | 0.525 | |
| 8 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 2 | 1:56.635 | 0.924 | |
| 9 | 10 | Nick CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 4 | 1:57.456 | 1.745 | |
| 10 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 5 | 1:57.548 | 1.837 |